If you’ve ever watched The Clone Wars and found yourself wondering how Savage Opress walks through blaster fire like it’s nothing—but still drops to a lightsaber—you’re not alone. The dude tanks multiple direct hits from clone blasters, shrugs off damage like a monster, and just keeps going… until he doesn’t.
So, what exactly is his armor made of? Let’s break it down using what we see in the show, what’s in official lore, and what’s been dug up by fans over time.
Table of Contents
It Can Take Blasters, But Definitely Not Lightsabers
We see it clearly during multiple episodes—Savage gets hit by clone blasters, including direct shots from DC-15s, and he keeps fighting. One of those hits gives him a limp later, but that’s about it. Meanwhile, Jedi and troopers drop instantly from those same weapons. That tells me the armor (or something else) is doing serious work when it comes to absorbing blaster fire.
But then he runs into a lightsaber, and things go downhill fast. Obi-Wan slices off his arm. Sidious stabs straight through him. There’s no sign of resistance at all, which makes it pretty clear: it’s not lightsaber-resistant at all.
The armor does what you’d expect from mid-tier protection—blasters bounce off, lightsabers cut through.
Probably Durasteel or Plasteel, Nothing Fancy
There’s no official breakdown of his armor’s exact composition, but based on what we know from The Clone Wars and other armor types from that era, durasteel or plasteel makes the most sense. Durasteel is tough enough to take some punishment from both blasters and sabers—at least once or twice. Plasteel is a bit weaker but still holds up better than the plastoid used on standard stormtroopers.
It lines up well with how Savage’s armor behaves in the show. It absorbs some fire, maybe deflects a saber strike once, but definitely doesn’t protect against multiple direct hits from a lightsaber. Nothing in Clone Wars or Wookieepedia says his armor is made from something exotic like beskar or cortosis, so there’s really no reason to think it’s anything beyond solid, enhanced metal.
Plus, Wookieepedia confirms that the armor was gifted to him by Mother Talzin after his transformation and was built to handle blaster fire and harsh environments—like the acid rain on Lotho Minor. So it was durable, sure. But nothing crazy.
The Real Protection Was His Mutated Body
Here’s where things get way more interesting. Before Savage ever puts on that armor, Mother Talzin uses Nightsister magick to completely transform him. He goes from a tall, strong Nightbrother to a hulking brute with massive strength, way more endurance, and a deeper connection to the dark side.
He literally grows a foot taller, his horns extend, and his muscle mass explodes. This wasn’t some minor enhancement. Talzin turned him into a weapon. And the show backs that up—Savage walks through blaster fire, slams Jedi around with brute force, and even tanks Force lightning longer than expected.
Some people like to say maybe the armor was enchanted too. That could be true, but we don’t really need that to explain why he’s so hard to kill. The magic changed everything about his body—he was built to take damage.
That moment when Sidious kills him? The green Nightsister mist pours out of his body and his armor literally disappears. His size shrinks back down. That tells me the armor wasn’t just metal strapped to his chest—it was a physical part of the transformation, just like the rest of him.
He Might’ve Been Absorbing Damage with the Force Too
There’s another angle that makes sense here. Savage probably had some form of instinctive Force shielding going on. The Force ability Tutaminis lets users absorb energy attacks—like blaster bolts or lightning—and even though it’s not confirmed that Savage used it, we’ve seen others like Yoda and Kylo Ren do something similar.
Savage didn’t get deep Force training the way Maul or Dooku did, but he had raw power. So if he’s charging into fire and surviving, there’s a good chance he’s unconsciously using the Force to reduce the damage. Combine that with a magically-enhanced body and tough armor, and you’ve got a tank who can take punishment most Jedi wouldn’t walk away from.
And it’s not like this kind of durability is new. Maul survived being cut in half. Savage, who was created using the same magick and shared that Zabrak toughness, probably didn’t even need top-tier armor to push through.